Ironclad Sprint Triathlon 2010: My First Tri with VFFs

The morning of the Ironclad Sprint Triathlon arrived way too early. My alarm went off at 4:30am and I slowly dragged my butt out of bed. I got dressed, prepped my water bottle for the bike and a bottle for the drive, walked the dogs, grabbed my gear and stumbled out the door. At this point I was only running 15 minutes behind schedule.


In my truck I quickly programmed my Droid phone to use as my GPS and pulled out of the driveway. It was a 1 hour drive to race sight and the bulk of it was uneventful. As I neared the race sight I started to see more and more cars loaded with bikes, obviously going to same place as me.

As I neared the race I had a growing line of cars with bike behind me. However, just before I got there everyone disappeared. As I noticed this I realized I had goofed. There was no parking at the race site, we were supposed to park a mile away at a school. I had programmed my Droid incorrectly and I was going to lose even more time. I searched for a place to turn around and doubled back to where I had last seen the other cars and followed the cars I saw with bikes to the parking area.

Once parked, I pulled out my pumped, got my tires up to pressure and took bike off of rack. I then gathered my gear out of the various bags it was in and stuffed into one bag for transport to transition. I put numbers on my helmet, bike, and race belt. All of this I'd meant to do night before and never got around to. I took my time and once everything was set I got on my bike to ride to the transition area.

About midway to transition I glanced at the time and realized transition closed in 5 minutes and race started in 20. I was running way behind and cutting things a bit too close. I sped up on bike and rolled up to transition as they were starting to push everyone out.

I hurriedly racked my bike, and set everything up. I put on a liberal application of bodyglide to both legs from knees down and both arms from elbows down, but, as I realized later, forgot my neck. This done I picked up my wetsuit and goggles and started to head for the swim start. As I was leaving transition one of the volunteers came through yelling out a reminder to the athletes to pick up their timing chips and swim caps.

Oops, I knew I was forgetting something...

I sprinted to the nearest tent and got my timing chip. Unfortunately that was all they had. The swim cap was at another tent over 200 yards in the wrong direction.

I quickly ran to the tent to get my swim cap. When I got there however the volunteer who was there was just watching the tent. He had no idea where caps were and once found what color I was to get. After what seemed like ages, but was probably about 5 minutes the correct person showed back up and gave me my cap. It was 2 minutes to start of 1st wave and I was in 3rd wave and had yet to put on my wetsuit.

I dashed off for the swim start about 300 yards away. I got there as the first wave was lining up to start. I hurriedly pulled on my wetsuit, causing 2 small tears in the process, put on my cap and got my goggles ready. By this time 2nd wave was starting, I had managed to get ready with a whole 3 minutes to spare. Not a good way to start things off.

A few minutes later I entered the water and off we went. The swim took place in the Long Island Sound and when I had checked the water temp online a couple days before it was only 54 degrees. It definitely hadn't warmed up much since then, and my face was hurting from the cold before I had reached the first buoy. The swim, other than the cold, was uneventful. I exited the water with a swim time of 16:42 for a half mile.

Coming out of the water my feet were numb. This was probably a good thing though because the beach was very rocky and full of broken shells. I ran as fast as my numb feet would carry me to transition. The top part of my wetsuit I had shed as I came out of the water and I had taken my goggles and cap off as I ran.

When I got into transition I struggled out of the bottom part of my wetsuit which got caught up on my timing chip. Once free of the wetsuit I got my cycling shoes on, put on my number belt, sunglasses, helmet, grabbed my bike and ran out of transition. I jumped on the bike and off I went.

The first loop of the bike was uneventful. I was flying by other riders on a regular basis. It seemed like no time before I was starting on the second loop and this was a little more difficult. On the second lap we started mixing the faster racers with the slower novices that really didn't know what they were doing. High speed passing the slow and erratic made things a little dangerous and crazy.

I completed most of the second lap without incident when ahead of me I saw my friend who was doing his first tri. I caught him quickly and I glanced over to say hi and encourage him on. As I did this I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. There were people rushing into the road to slow us down. I had to lock my brakes and went into a slide barely missing a couple other bikes. (I would find out later that I had torn most of the rubber off of a section of my tire as a result, but it held long enough for me to reach the finish.) There had been an accident and they were trying to keep us from running into the downed rider.

I was quickly around them and finished the final miles without incident. I slipped my feet out of my shoes as I approached transition. My odometer told me I had only rode 12.5 miles instead of the 13.5 they had told us. I hopped off of my bike and ran into transition. Despite my toes being numb making it difficult to feel toe holes, I quickly pulled on my Vibram Sprints, grabbed my number belt and hat and was off and running.

The run course was mainly off road, with a good portion of it being on well groomed trail. There was a lot of gravel in opening stretch but my feet had become well adjusted to it and this caused me no problems. The trails themselves were a bit of an adventure. There were a couple mud pits we had to run through and at the first I hesitated a bit. If had been running in shoes I would have just jumped in but for some reason I paused a moment and contemplated my alternatives. I quickly realized I was being silly and just plunged through and didn't slow for the remainder.

The only other concern was the sections of trail that had large roots crossing them. They were a concern for any runner because they were an easy way to trip or twist an ankle. But, with VFFs I was also concerned with injuring my feet if I stepped on them incorrectly. I just carefully watched my step and danced my way through them.

The run was over before I knew it and I found myself sprinting for the line. The race itself wasn't much of a challenge because of the short distance, but I still felt like I had made a huge accomplishment. I had run longer distances in my VFFs but this was the first time I had used them in a triathlon. My feet felt great in them and they made running the trails a true joy. I found myself anxiously awaiting my next tri in them (the next weekend).

An Arubian Misstep

I came out of the Celebrate Life Half Marathon back in March feeling pretty good about my progress in running in Vibram Five Fingers. Even though I ran the race slower than what I'd hoped to, I felt that I was getting better at running downhills in my VFFs. Besides, it wasn't due to my choice in foot wear that caused the slower time, it was a combination of training and a GI issue during race that resulted in an unplanned pit stop that were to blame.


My feet felt great during and after the race and I was starting to feel a little cocky about it. I had a great week of running following the CLHM. I didn't do a lot mileage but the runs were good quality. That next Saturday I flew to Aruba for spring break.

Arrived in Aruba Saturday afternoon. I was very fatigued and it was very hot so elected not to run that day. The next morning I woke up bright and early and set off on a 7 mile run. I quickly got absorbed in the scenery and weather and hardly even noticed that I was running. I had been a bit concerned how well my feet would do in VFFs running on hot pavement, but I didn't even notice. This was literally a run in heaven.

On the second morning I again woke early and headed out for a run. It was another absolutely perfect day. Weather was fantastic, sun was glistening off of the beautiful blue water, there was scent of sea air and tropical flowers in the air and life was good.

About 1 1/4 miles into the run I was running along looking out at the sea. Because of an oncoming car I moved to the side of the road and was about to move into the dirt beside it when I felt a sharp pain lance through my right foot. It took a couple hopping steps to come a complete stop, each one, despite barely putting pressure on that foot, hurt more than the last.

It took a few moments to figure out what had happened. I finally realized that I made a cardinal sin of running, I'd stopped watching my footing. As a result when I attempted to leave the road I didn't get a good placement on my foot and stepped with only outer edge on pavement and the rest came down on dirt. To make it worse the dirt wasn't flush with the pavement, there was about 2 inch drop in that particular spot.

I hobbled around for a moment trying to decide how serious it was. The initial piercing pain subsided somewhat, but it was still pretty high on the pain chart. I debated with myself whether to keep going, turn back, turn back and walk or to try and hitch a ride. The last option being quickly dropped. After a couple minutes I decided to try and slowly continue on. I'd been able to run through most of my injuries and now that I'd learned how to correctly run in VFFs I figured I could continue without making things worse.

After about 200 yards I was able to limp under a 10 minute pace, but could go no faster. The pain had just become a steady, throbbing ache, the sharpness had gone. I continued on for a little over another mile before giving up. I had hoped the pain would go away or at least become very faint, but it wasn't. I was still limping and realized I was just going to injure something else if I kept it up, so I turned to head back to the hotel.

The 2 1/4 miles back were less then fun. I could no longer appreciate the paradise I was running in and had to focus instead on running as correctly as I could. After what felt to be an eternity I finally found my self in the hotel parking lot. I went up to my room, grabbed the ice bucket, filled it and spent the next 25 minutes trying to numb my foot. Fortunately I had cold beer close at hand.

I struggled to walk the rest of the day and all of the next. I tried to run again 2 days later, but barely managed 2 1/2 miles at a very slow pace. The flowing day it was a painful 4 miles, the next 3, and the final day I was there an uncomfortable 4 1/2 miles. One careless moment of being too wrapped up in looking around me instead of where I was going cost me a great week of running in a virtual Garden of Eden. I still got some miles in, but they weren't enjoyable and my foot affected the quality of everything else I did while I was there.

I still had a great time while I was there but was disappointed with myself for having made such a simple stupid mistake. However, I'm still alive, I've had worse and there was no permanent damage. Lesson learned, enjoy your surrounding, but always watch your step.

Cox Providence Marathon 2010: A VFF Milestone

The day before the Providence Marathon I got up, got breakfast and set about gathering all of my gear for the race. I didn't put a lot of thought into it, I've done it so many times, just grabbed it and stuffed it into my bag. I sort of kept a mental checklist as I went, but that was the extent of my planning. When I was done I made sure my four legged little girl was safely with her sitter for the weekend, threw my bag in my truck, and headed for Providence.

It was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining, the skies blue, the temperature warm and all was well. It was a great drive until about midway when I realized I'd forgotten my running hat. This put a little damper on the drive, but I quickly shook it off knowing the hat wasn't critical and that I could pick one up at the race expo.

I pulled into Providence a couple hours before expo close. It took a while to find parking due to the circus being in town, and the circus protestors with them. I found a spot about 1/2 mile from the expo and host hotel, The Westin, and quickly made the walk there.

Packet pick-up was easy, and well organized, but the advertised expo was non-existent. There was a booth for Team-In-Training, and one for Team MS, and another for small smaller charity group doing the race. The few remaining booths were for the non-running related race sponsors, there wasn't a single thing there for runners. So much for buying a hat, restocking on Body Glide or anything else.

The expo may have been lacking but they did have a very nice race shirt for us and a fancy new timing chip. The T was a long sleeve tech shirt that just happened to be in my school's colors. Which meant I had a great shirt to wear under my staff shirts when covering games on cold days. As for the timing chip, I'd never seen anything like it. The chip was 2 magnetic strips that almost resembled refrigerator magnets. They were attached to the back of the bib number, so no lacing into shoes or strapping on a chip belt. It also meant nothing to turn in after the race because they were one use disposable chips. Not sure they are very 'green' but I liked them.

I was in and out in less than 10 minutes and then went to check in at my hotel, The Marriot, a mile away. The next couple of hours I spent using my Droid to find 'running' stores looking for a hat. Didn't need it, but I had the time to kill. Found out after walking all over the mall that none of the 'running' stores in it actually carry any running gear. They're all about 'fashion' not about function.

Finally I found City Sports just outside of downtown and got what I needed. I stopped at a pizza place to pick up dinner and headed back to hotel to relax. After pizza, I had a soak in the hot tub and made good use of the foam roller in the hotel fitness center. Afterwards it was time to get some sleep.
Race morning came way too early, as they always do. I got up and had my preferred breakfast of champions, cold pizza, and started to get ready for the race. Put my number with its cool new b-chip (timing chip) on my race belt along with pouch to hold my droid (for pics and tweeting). Stuffed a couple of Accel gels in pocket of tri top I'd be wearing along with some electrolyte capsules. Stuffed my body glide and my VFF Sprints in my race bag with couple shirts for after race and left the hotel.
It was .9 miles from my hotel to race starting line and instead of trying to deal with finding parking and worrying about post race traffic I elected to jog there. I had on my VFF KSOs and I covered the distance quickly and without incident. When I got there I went over to bag check, changed to my Sprints and tri top, put bandage (I developed small cut on top of foot previous weekend from top strap) on top of feet and covered with Body Glide, put on race belt and I was ready. Turned in my bag and headed out.

On the way out from bag drop I heard my twitter name, IronmanLongRunr, called and I turned around to find at @Luau coming my way. He was a literal walking billboard with names and charities written in marker on every square inch of skin that was showing. He'd sold off parts of his body for display if they would donate $22 to charity. I believe he got 22 people for a total of $484 for various charities.
We chatted on the way out to the start line. This was going to be his 3rd marathon, 2nd in 2 weeks (he'd run Boston exactly 2 weeks before) and all in VFFs. We'd both run the Manchester marathon back in the fall, his first, my 20 something and were introduced to each by @oblinkin.
We milled around at start for a few minutes before race start, both of receiving many stares for our choice of footwear and fielding a number of questions as well. It wasn't a very big race and we were able to find a space relatively close to the starting line, just slightly ahead of the 8min/mi pace signs which is what both of us were going to try and run.
They played the National Anthem and off we went. The first few miles were uneventful. I spent most of them running with @luau and chatting with him. There were some stares at our 'shoes', more comments and questions, but for most part it was a nice easy run. We started out at just under an 8 min pace and sort of hovered there for a while.

Around the 3 mile I started noticing some pain in the top of my right foot and realized that I was reverting to old form again. I slowed slightly, dropping slightly behind @luau and focused on correcting my form. About as quickly as the pain came on, it was gone again and I slowly started to ease the pace back up.

It wasn't long before I was back up with @luau again and running comfortably. Shortly after I caught him, @luau yelled out 'nice shoes' and pointed to other side of the road. Running the opposite direction was a non-racer out for a run in red VFFs. He smiled and waved but I don't think he noticed that we were sporting similar footwear.

Around the 5 mile mark we were both still running sub 8min pace and @luau backed off trying to settle into it. I was just focused on my form and not worried about pace and slowly pulled in front of him. But, since my pace wasn't that much under 8min I'm sure he remained relatively close.

The next 4 miles were uneventful. I had several more conversations about my VFFs and tried to keep my focus on my running form. My feet and legs were feeling great but I was starting to realize that I wasn't going to be able to hold pace. I'd slowed to around an 8 min pace and knew I probably wouldn't hold that much longer.

Around the 9 mile mark @luau caught me again and we ran for a short ways together again. He was doing well, but was having some problems with his knee. About this time I also noticed that my bladder was starting to ask for attention. I saw a wooded area ahead that another runner was already using for same purpose and pulled off the course to answer nature.

After a quick stop I was back running. @luau was no longer in sight and I put on a bit of a surge to see if I could catch. About a half further there was a 180 degree turn and for about 1/4 mile we were able to see some of the runners ahead of us on the way back. I saw @luau who still had a sizable gap on me. We slapped hands in passing and I continued to press the pace.

I chased him for about 1 1/2 miles before I started noticing the pain in the top of my right foot returning. I backed off pace, which I wouldn't have been able to hold much longer anyway, and refocused on my form again. The pain quickly disappeared again and I was feeling good again, but I could still feel the effects from having pushed the pace in my legs and decided to stay at pace I was currently running.

The next 10 miles were pretty uneventful. I had some good scenery to look at for just about the whole race, got many more stares, questions about VFFs, and generally just had a good run going.

Around mile 22 I started to really feel things in my legs. I knew the last miles were going to be a test, but I'd basically been expecting that. I really hadn't put in the kind of mileage I needed leading into the marathon to be able to expect much. I'd experienced a little concern about my feet making the distance when I passed the 20 mile mark, which was farthest I'd ever run in VFFs, but that quickly passed. Now I was simply concerned about my legs getting me there. Fortunately, I've been to that point enough I now how to push through, and push I did.

I did find some entertainment the closing miles to take my mind off of the legs. Still not sure what to make of the guy, but he was enthusiastic and great support when really needed and so I'm thankful for him. I saw him about 5 or 6 times in closing miles, he kept moving spots, and first couple times I wasn't sure if he was male or female. He had long wavy hair, a shirt that exposed his midriff, which was a bit of a belly, and was banging on a pot with a spoon. He definitely loved my VFFs and made sure everyone in the area saw them. By the 3rd time I passed him I was sure he was a guy, but from then on I wasn't sure if he had a wig or not, whether he was trying to look like a woman for fun or really dressed that way or what, but at the same time I didn't truly care. He was a good crazy, having fun and making things easier and more enjoyable.

I finally left the one man cheering section behind and started the final stretch to the finish. About 2 miles from end we crossed a bridge that was under repair and had a very narrow walkway to navigate. It was impossible to run side by side with anyone the whole length of the bridge which made passing difficult and rather acrobatic. I did a few pirouettes, twirls and spins as I passed people and then did the descent from hell. We ran a wheelchair access ramp back down to ground level. With quads burning we went around and around and around and down and down and down. It was a series of short down ramp followed by 180 turn and down another with another 180 and on for what seemed like miles.

After Satan’s ramp I figured my legs couldn't feel any worse and I started a final push to the line. My increase in pace wasn't anything to brag about but I was emptying the tank. About 1/2 a mile from the finish there was a stretch of pavement the was old and had buckled a bit. I was pushing hard enough I wasn't paying close enough attention to my footing and I kicked a hump in the pavement. Fortunately it wasn't with my toes, it was the ball of my foot, but I almost wiped out. I'm still not really sure how I stayed on my feet because I swear I was only inches from face planting in the middle of the road.

But, stay on my feet I did but the ball of my left foot was in incredible pain and I could barely put pressure on it. I hobbled on best I could and about 200 yards later despite the pain I was almost running normal again and I could hear the finish area just ahead. When I turned the final corner I made my final surge and crossed the line. 3:37:38 was my official time, not a PR, but I was very happy with it for my first attempt at a marathon in VFFs.

My foot that kicked the road now merely felt hot, but I didn't care. I was elated because I had just finished my first VFF marathon and I did it only 8 months after starting to run in them. It felt like my first marathon all over again. I was a VFF rookie no more.

I collected my medal, and headed for food. On my way I ran into @luau again. He'd run his 2nd PR in 2 weeks taking almost a full 2 minutes off of his Boston time. We chatted a bit and then he went off looking for ice and I for food.

They had a pretty good spread of the usual plus pizza. I loaded up on pizza and Gatorade and wandered out of the food area. There was an area just outside of there where one of the sponsors, Harpoon Beer, was giving a free sample to racers and selling beer. I quickly secured my free beverage and went off to eat my pizza and drink my beer. I of course snuck back and due to a poor job marking my bib # the first time was able to make off with a 2nd freebee.

After filling my belly I went and reclaimed my checked bag and did the .9 mile jog back to the hotel. My feet, despite the incident near the end of the race, felt great the whole way. A quick shower, checked out and I was on the road for home.

Despite the lack of expo and poorly placed and too few aid stations, the Cox Providence Marathon was a great event. With planning it is easy to adjust for the distance between aid stations, it was a beautiful course partially along the water and through a number of nice neighborhoods. The race was well organized from packet pickup (which was available race morning which has become a rarity) to finish area. Volunteers and fans were fantastic and made the day much easier. The Marriott was great with the late checkout, which is also becoming a rarity. All in all a great race which I highly recommend.

PS - next day, despite running in VFFs, my feet still felt great!

Red Means Injured Triathlete

As endurance athletes we've all been injured at some point. You can't take a car out on the highway and just hold the accelerator to floor forever without blowing your engine, and as athletes we're red lining it on a regular basis. We push ourselves in training and races and eventually something breaks.
It is hard enough to deal with the injury and recovery as it is, but it is even worse while we are working out and our pace and distance are much less than our norm. It is easy to feel self-conscious and wish that others knew that we're really better than this.
I know I've been self-conscious about this many times, whether from injury or post event (marathon, ironman, etc) soreness and have heard many others lament about it as well. For over a year now I've been on Twitter and it is almost a regular occurrence that I will hear someone complain about it, occasionally even to point of wishing they had a shirt they could buy that would say "hey, I'm injured! I'm really not this slow". Usually I just sympathize with them.
Today was different. I saw @trifunster making a similar statement about being injured and wishing she had a shirt. Don't know why I did it or where idea came from but I jokingly suggested she wear a red shirt. I mentioned that injured college athletes who are out for season are red shirted (yes, I know freshman who aren't going to play are as well) and so wearing a red shirt would say "hey, I'm injured" in a way maybe some would understand.
Her response was positive and she seemed to like the idea enough to the point of retweeting the idea and creating a Twitter hash tag #redmeansinjuredtriathlete. This caused me to pause and really think about it. The more I thought the more the idea made sense and the more I liked it. The color red was a bit arbitrary, but to tell someone you were red shirting there was a possibility they would catch on quicker because of college sports. Red is also common enough most athletes would have at least one shirt/jersey/singlet, but not so common that you see the majority of athletes wearing it. Yeah, there are going to be non-injured athletes wearing red, but there are non-injured college freshman that are red shirted. It would defeat the purpose to pick a color so obscure no one had it and they would have hunt to find one, they may as well just print up a t-shirt. So red it is.
Ideally it would be a red shirt, but high school and college athletes that are required to wear a uniform and are racing for conditioning and experience purposes could sub in a red headband, hat, socks, shoelaces and more. But that is another discussion.
The more I thought about all of this, the more I liked it. My excitement lead me to don a red shirt for my run today. I'm two days post-marathon, and though I am not doing the Frankenstein monster walk and actually walking normal, my legs are not able to run like I'm used to. I ran 4 miles yesterday and every time saw someone I felt slightly embarrassed about my slow amble. Today I ran same distance, same course and only very slightly faster. However, even though only two of us knew of this idea, I felt more comfortable and confident and enjoyed the run in a way I wasn't able to yesterday. Maybe this was from feeling good about my idea, but I really feel it was because my shirt was clearly stating "hey, I just ran a marathon, I'm red shirting this week!"
Next time you can't run/ride/swim up to your normal level due to injury, give it a try. If you like it, share the idea and spread the word. Hey, #RedMeansInjuredTriathlete!

Addendum:Shortly after posting this I received a tweet that basically stated that I shouldn't worry about what others thought and just man up about injuries. In a sense I agree but as an athletic trainer (field of sports medicine http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/athletic_training/a/aa062001a.htm ) I know that it is not always as easy as that.
Depression and loss of confidence often occur in athletes of all levels, from weekend warrior to pro athlete, and all ages when they get injured. Sometimes the body heals and the athlete is physically able to return to preinjury levels but is unable to do so because depression and/or lack of confidence is holding them back. This is part of the reason (there many others as well) why the field of sports psychology came into being and why it is such a growing field.
In addition, there is growing evidence to support that endurance athletes will sometimes suffer a post event depression. There is still a lot of speculation as to why, but there is growing evidence that it does occur.
So, while some may be able to suck it up and get through it, it is no embarrassment to need a little help. If wearing a red shirt letting people know that you're less than 100% helps, then it is a good thing. It becomes a tool for returning to full physical and mental health, not a crutch.
If you don't like the idea, or don't think it's for you, that's fine and my feelings won't be hurt, but if it helps even one person, it's worth it to me. I welcome any and all thoughts on the matter.
Wearing red means injured triathlete who is coming back strong as ever...

Celebrate Life Half Marathon 2010

Over the several days that followed the Boston Buildup 25k my feet had soreness along the top of the metatarsals and in the toe joints. This pain disappeared midway through the week but would pop back up again every few days as I worked on trying to improve my downhill running nothing serious, but enough to be annoying.
After 2 weeks of running after the race, bringing me to 7 weeks of running in nothing but Vibram Five Fingers, I decided to try another race, the Celebrate Life Half Marathon. I’d run the race for the first time the year before and really enjoyed it. I had hoped to make it my first VFF race but buoyed by my success in running in them I’d jumped the gun and run a different race. But, I’d been working on my downhill weakness and was ready to see if I’d made any improvement and I knew the CLHM course would give me the test I needed.
The temperatures in the week leading up to the CLHM had been fantastic, upper 40s to low 50s and I was looking forward to a fun race. Unfortunately the rain gods figured this out and brought in a huge storm the night before which abused the whole area, ripping apart trees, power, phone and cable lines, tearing up roofs, flooding roads and just bringing general chaos to the area. Race morning came and the remnants of the storm were still lingering in the area threatening to attack again. The air temp was in the low 40s which was plenty comfortable but the threat of cold rain made the prospect of racing less than fun.
On the way to the race I again stopped at Duncan Donuts to get my grease fix on with a bacon, egg and cheese on an English muffin and large coffee to supplement my Nature Valley granola bars and Powerade Ion. Not what I would like for a prerace meal, but it seemed to do me rather well 2 weeks earlier at the BB25k, so what the heck. Harden my arteries to start the morning and get my heart working early in the race trying to pump blood through my clogged arteries. Life didn’t get much better…
When I got to the Rock Hill Lodge I quickly found a parking space along side the road and went in to get my race packet. Unlike the previous race where hardly anyone blinked an eye at my VFFs, I was drawing quite a few stares and curious looks. Evidently this group wasn’t quite as familiar with them as the last. On my way pack to my truck after getting my packet I had several people that came up to me to ask me about them. One had heard of them, the other 2 would slightly incredulous that they were not only shoes, but that I was going to run in them.
Once I finally reached my truck I quickly donned my race gear and headed to the start. I got no further questions on the way but could feel the eyes following my every step. I didn’t care for all of the attention when I first started wearing the VFFs back at the end of August, but I’d gotten to the point where I found it quite entertaining to see people’s reactions. I had one training run a few weeks before where the same truck looped around and drove past me slowly not once, not twice, but three times with the last one the passenger was hanging out the window trying to get a better look. So everyone here was no surprise to me.
I’m guessing it is so they can try and have everyone in at the same time for the post-race celebration (which is catered by Outback Steakhouse and includes steak, chicken, salad and beer) but this is one of the only races I know that has 3 different start times with all of the racers going the same distance. They let the walkers start at 8:30, the slow runners who request an early start (and therefore disqualify themselves from awards) at 9 and the rest of us at 10. This meant that midway through the race when the field started to thin out that there would still be plenty of people to pass, chat with, motivate, etc. I’d found it strange but rather fun the previous year.
I had one more brief conversation about my VFFs, they played the National Anthem and off we went. Since the course is continual rolling hills it was almost immediately that we started our first uphill, and downhill, and uphill, and downhill, and, well you get the idea. None of the hills were all that long, and they weren’t very steep, but they kept coming at you like a prom date after that elusive final (vertical) dance of the night.
I was passing and being passed and jockeying back and forth. I still wasn’t as fast on the downhills as I was in running shoes, but I was holding my ground on them much better than the previous week. That flats, short though they were, and the uphills I was still running strong. I had an occasional conversation and question about my VFFs with runners as I passed them or got passed. The rain was holding off and we were only running through an occasional light mist.
About 4 miles into the race I encountered what would be my only physical challenge of the day. I don’t know if it was from my wonderfully nutritious breakfast or from over indulging at a friend’s birthday party the night before, but my lower digestive tract was starting to protest mightily, threatening a flood of their own. It wasn’t impossible to run through, but it made things about as much fun as listening to a GWB speech and slowed me slightly. I ended up running the next 6 miles with the old glutes flexing like they were in a Schwarzenegger movie.
About 6 ½ miles into the run I started catching the first of the walkers. This is when things began to get more entertaining. Since they were moving a little slower and I guess had more time to look and more oxygen to talk I started to hear a lot more chatter about my fancy dancy footwear. There were occasional shouted questions of “are those Vibrams”, and “how do you like them”, as well as comments amongst themselves that I overheard wondering what they were, or explanations to friends about them. I never got full conversations, it was all snippets due to the disparity in our paces, but they kept me entertained and my attention of my ailing tail pipe.
Finally around the 10 mile mark I saw the oasis in the form of a plastic portable shi# box that I’d been desperately searching for. They are disgusting things that I absolutely abhor, but as an endurance athlete they are a necessary evil that is part of the sport. I took care of business quickly and made the final 3 mile dash for the finish.
I was still feeling strong as I made the final ¾ mile downhill descent to the finish. My overall pace wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for, but considering my physical condition through most of the race and still learning how to run in VFFs I was happy with what I was doing. I crossed the finish strong hitting almost an 8 minute pace for the day.
Afterwards I quickly went back to my truck, changed shirts and put on a fleece to try and stave off the post race chills. I then wandered back to the finish area grabbed a bottle of water and went inside to get my post race meal, which was not a thing to miss at the CLHM. It was catered by Outback Steak House and they served steak, chicken, ceasar salad, rolls, bananas, coffee, hot chocolate AND BEER. It is quite a feast.
Of course while standing in line and while eating there were more conversations and questions about my VFFs, all of which I gladly welcomed. I finished my food, beer and chats and slipped out before the awards. An 8 min/mile pace is way too slow to be making the podium so I opted to beat the traffic getting out of there.
It wasn't a great day for me, but I was coming along. I could tell from the way my feet felt that I'd redeveloped my blisters on the front part of my left foot, but my running was improving. I was getting better on the downhills and while still no speed demon I was beginning to hold my own on them again. The final .75 miles of the race was all downhill and I managed to pass about 12 people and only got passed by 1. I definitely still felt a little fire in the top of my feet when running down the hills but it was less intense and my stride was slowly starting to lengthen back out.
My VFFs were taking me for a fun ride and I was no longer paying a high price for my passage. I was starting to feel reborn as a runner and loving every second of it. I'm not sure where this will end up, but I was aching to find out and to continue to push my luck.
For those interested, I highly recommend the race. They do a great job and you can't beat the post race feast!

Boston Buildup 25k 2010

I awoke Sunday February 28th got dressed and hopped in my truck for the drive to Norwalk, CT for the Boston Buildup 25k (15.5mi). I made a quick stop at Duncan Donuts to grab coffee and a ham, egg and cheese on a English muffin to supplement my Nature Valley granola bars and Powerade Ion breakfast. Not my usual nutritious prerace meal, but this was sort of a last second decision to run the race and I was ill prepared food wise. The heavy winter storm we’d just come out of had made going for groceries difficult.
Armed with my grease meal I made the 30 minute drive to the race start. I left an area with an average of 18-24 inches of snow and arrived to find the land around the race start only covered with about an inch of snow. It’s funny how such a short distance can make such a huge difference in weather.
It was a cool, crisp morning. The sky was clear of clouds and the sun was shining brightly. The air temperature was in the low 40’s and with the sun brightening the day it looked to be about a perfect morning for a race.
I quickly found registration, signed up, got my number and headed back to my truck to get ready for the race. I had on shorts, put on a tech long sleeve t-shirt, slathered my forefeet with body glide to help lessen the problems with my blisters, put on and my my wool Injinji socks and my blue camo Sprint VFFs (Vibram Five Fingers). I’d forgot my number belt so resorted to pinning my number on the old fashioned way. I grabbed my Garmin 305, put on my heart rate monitor, secured my key and headed over to the race start.
It was a relatively small race, but looked to have some pretty good runners. The race was put on by a local running club and was relatively low key. Part of the purpose was to help club members prepare for the Boston marathon. Even though it was sort of a club event, it was opened up to others. Aid stations were farther apart than typical for most races, there were no t-shirts, prizes were virtually non-existent, and entry fee was very low, but it seemed to be well organized.
I was a little nervous, I’d run many ½ marathons before but this was my first race running in VFFs. I’ve been running for almost 30 years and over 1000 races of varying distances and all of them had one thing in common that I was putting at risk with this race. Every race I’ve ever started I finished. Zero DNFs. I’d only run this far once in VFFs and that was only 7 days ago and at a very easy pace. Here I was trying to repeat the distance with severely blistered feet from my run a couple days before and I was going to be pushing the pace pretty hard. I could have just run it as a training run, but I’d learned from years of experience that no matter how much I may want to and plan to take it easy in a race, once the race starts the plan goes straight out the window and off I go full out. So I was sure this would be no different and I wasn’t going to pretend it would be.
Driving in I noticed the area was rather hilly and I was expecting that the course would be as well. Hills were still giving me some difficulty, the uphill seemed to burn the bottom of my feet some and the downhill was very hard on the feet all around. Coupled with this the course was most likely going to be rather wet from the melting snow and in VFFs this pretty much guaranteed my feet would get soaked which would make things with my blistered feet even more difficult.
I joined in with the group at the starting line, reset my Garmin and I was ready. After a few quick words the race started and off we all went. Just like I expected I was immediately pushing the pace and the course quickly proved me right about the hills and the wet roads. The hills weren’t real big or step, but they just kept coming one after the other and my feet were thoroughly soaked before the first mile was finished. My pace through the first mile was about a 7:30 and I was feeling good.
The body glide was helping with my feet on the uphills, I barely felt the blisters and noticed no burning in my feet. The downhills were proving to still be a bit difficult. For the first time in my life I was getting passed on the hills quite regularly. I was doing well on the uphill, but on the down I wasn’t able to lengthen my stride and take full advantage of gravity. I had to hold back some or my feet would start getting painful. I hadn’t been sure how slow I’d been running downhill until now, because I’d been running for last month on my own, but now that I was running with and against others I knew from the number of people passing me that I was even slower than I’d expected. I obviously still either still had something to learn about barefoot/VFF running or needed to develop more foot strength or both. I was frustrating getting passed this easily and I kept trying to open things up a bit more with each successive downhill.
I could feel some top of foot pain developing, nothing severe yet, but I needed to keep very aware of it. The water stations were about every 3 miles, which was further than I’d expected, but so far it wasn’t proving to be a problem. I just focused on drinking more at each one than I normally would. Before I knew it I’d blown through the ½ way point in just about 1 hour on the nose and I was feeling great.
The rest of the race continued pretty much the same way except for one thing. Around the 9 mile mark the body glide I’d applied to my feet had given out and I was really starting to feel the blisters. They didn’t seem to be getting worse, but they were definitely reminding me that they were there. As it would turn out, my feet held up great with only a small increase in the size of the blisters.
In the closing miles I was really pushing myself and the top of foot pain was starting to be of concern. Concern, but not enough to cause me to back off and I kept pushing with each downhill I was still trying to increase stride and speed. I was still getting passed, but by fewer people and they were going by me at a slower rate. Throughout the race I’d repassed just about everyone that had passed me once I got on the brief flats or on the next uphill, but I was sick of having to recatch them and was trying to do what I could to keep as many of them as possible behind me the rest of the way.
I finished in a time of 2:00:34. It was far from my fastest, but it was a solid performance for this time of year and especially for my first race in VFFs, besides it had years since I’d run significantly faster. Overall I felt good. Blisters were aggravated but not excessively so and my feet were sore enough to be concerned but not worried. As far as I was concerned I was now officially a barefoot runner. I’d also learned that even though I was doing well with this ‘new’ style of running that I still had some work to do, primarily with downhill running, especially since the soreness in my feet would last several days and by the end of the day I had developed some slight swelling in them again but nothing that prevented me from not only running, but continuing to run in VFFs.
Overall the experience was good. It was a good race, well organized, a challenging course and strong competition. I was happy with where I was in my training and how well I was running with my VFFs. It was a good start to the upcoming race season.

Barefoot Running: The Seed Sprouts

I returned from the week of training in the Bahamas feeling good. My legs and lungs were back to preinjury levels and my feet felt great. My final run there were in my VFFs and the 5 miles in them felt great. What better time to give barefoot running another try.
So, Wednesday January 6th I put my VFFs on again and headed out for another run. It had been 3 days since my last run in them. My plan this time around was to have a minimum of 2-3 days between runs until I figured this thing out. I didn’t want to get injured again and I figured the time between runs would give my body plenty of time to recover.
It was a cold day but my Injinji and my VFF KSOs kept my feet plenty warm. I ran a short 3.2 miles and hit the showers. There was some soreness in the top of my feet and at the base of my toes, but it was minor and of little concern. I was headed to Boston that weekend for an athletic training symposia and I knew that I’d have one more day of running. I’d run the next day in regular running shoes before taking the next 4 days off which would give plenty of healing time for them.
The next day I went for a short run in my shoes and felt ok. My feet were achy and a little sore, but didn’t feel like they were getting any worse. Actually, they felt slightly better as I ran. Didn’t make sense that my feet felt better with running, but that was consistent with what happened when I was injured back in the fall.
The following Tuesday I went out for my third VFF run of the year and my first run since the previous Thursday. I wasn’t making much progress, but I wasn’t getting injured either. I had some tenderness from the last run that lasted a couple of days, but my feet had been feeling great since. I knew it would again be several days before I was able to run and so I decided to increase the distance a touch and make things a little more challenging. Most of my runs had been on relatively flat courses, but I decided to run a fairly hilly route this time and see what happened. Back in the fall I seemed to have my greatest difficulty with my feet when running hills, both up and down them. I wasn’t worried about the distance, but the hills could prove to be a test.
Because of the cold I was again wearing Injinji socks under my KSOs. The route I’d chosen was 4.4 miles, completely on the roads and it took me up and down several pretty good sized hills. There was some soreness at base of my toes on the uphills and pain in the top of my feet on the down. Neither was that bad, but it showed I definitely needed to figure out how to run them correctly. After my run there was only minor aches and soreness in my feet. It lasted the rest of the day and through the next but again felt better after I’d gone for a run in my running shoes.
I’m not sure if it was the support from the shoes, the cushioning, compression or what, but my feet felt better after running in them. The interesting part is that even when I was wearing shoes, I knew that I wasn’t running with a heel strike anymore. I was running with a fore/midfoot strike, so it wasn’t likely that the foot strike was causing my problem. I was confident that it was still something wrong I was doing with the push/lift off portion of the stride and this is where I decided I needed to focus on my next run.
I wasn’t able to get out on a run the next couple of day and I was going to be out of town again and unable to run that weekend. I took the following Monday off as well before getting back out for another run. Clad in my KSOs and Injinjis I set out for another run. I was really trying to make a point of lifting my feet instead of pushing off. It felt unnatural but my feet felt slightly better. Unfortunately every time I stopped focusing on my running I went back to pushing off. But I made it through another 3.3 miles in my VFFs with minimal soreness.
I ran the next 2 days in my running shoes before trying my VFFs again. In them I was also focusing on lifting instead of pushing but instead of feeling like I was on track to figuring barefoot running out I felt awkward and silly. But, my feet were feeling good and I wanted to get a second VFF run in for the week. I managed another 3.2 miles on a relatively flat course. It was a far from perfect run but it was a pretty good one. My feet still felt it, but it was the best that they’d ever felt after a run. The soreness was there, but a lower level and I knew it was going to be hard to refrain from running in my VFFs again the next day.
But, as much as I wanted to I learned my lesson and took the next 3 days off. My feet felt great the entire weekend and the following Tuesday I put my VFFs on for another run. The plan was to run around 3.4 miles at an easy pace, but things quickly changed. About 1 ½ miles into the run I realized there was absolutely no pain or discomfort in my feet whatsoever. I also noticed that my form had changed and it felt almost natural and easy. My feet were lightly gliding over the pavement; I was no longer pushing off. Something had finally clicked. I started picking up the pace, testing my new form.
Before I knew it I was 3 miles out and realized I better not push my luck too far and turned back for home. According to my Garmin 305 I totaled 6.1 miles on the run, yet I had no pain, soreness, aches or any other problems in my feet. They felt great! It was too soon to say for sure, but I think I finally figured this “barefoot” running thing out.
Excited from my success I decided to try running in my VFFs again the next for 3.2 miles, and again the next day for 3.4 miles, and the next for another 6 miles for a total of 18.7 miles in 4 days.
My feet felt great through the entire 4 day stretch. I did develop a little soreness as the week progressed, but it was different from before. In the past it felt like I was doing something wrong and possibly causing injury, but now it just felt like the muscle soreness you get after a good hard workout. It faded as the day progressed and left me feeling fantastic the next day. I did find that I couldn’t just take off and run and totally forget to pay attention to what I was doing, if I did I found I reverted to my old running form and I would start to get soreness back in my feet again. As soon as this would happen I would refocus on what I was doing, adjust my running technique and the pain would disappear.
Between weather, work and several other factors I ended up taking the next 3 days off completely from running, no running in VFFs or shoes.
Monday came and I went out in my VFFs again for 4.4 miles, again Tuesday for 8 miles, Wednesday for 3.25 miles and Thursday for 6 miles. And every one of the runs felt great with each one my feet and legs feeling better than the one before. I wasn’t able to run again that Friday and Saturday, but Sunday came and I decided it was time to try and push the distance a bit. I already had my longest ever VFF run on Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough for me, I wanted more and more I got. I went for 11 miles and felt fantastic while doing it. This brought my weekly total to 32.65 miles all in VFFs and almost 2 weeks since I’d run in shoes.
The following week I ran 30.7 miles over 6 days and the following Monday I pushed my longest VFF run to 13.5 miles and I would end up running a total of 49.9 miles in 7 runs that week culminating with a new personal VFF distance best run of 15.5 miles on Sunday.
The following week I kept the streak going running, but due to severe weather and extremely heavy snowfall the days and mileage were somewhat limited. I ran 2.7 miles on Monday, 6 miles on Wednesday, and then did the stupid. I ran 5 miles on Thursday, but due to the weather ran on a treadmill. This is where the stupid comes in. I decided since I was running on the treadmill that I didn’t need the same protection that I did on the roads and decided to run truly barefoot. Fortunately, the injury I did was literally only skin deep. I severely blistered the bottom of my feet. I felt it happening but I’d decided to run 5 miles before I set foot on the treadmill and decided to stick with the plan despite my feet. I wasn’t causing serious injury, but it didn’t feel very good anyway.
We lost power the next day, so no treadmill, and the snow was coming down thick and heavy, so I was forced to sit it out. Not that this was a bad thing, the bottom of my feet could use the healing time. The roads were cleared well enough the next day that I was able to get in another 5 miles. It wasn’t a big week distance wise, but it was bringing me to the close of a month of being shoe free and strictly running in VFFs.
Despite the blisters and all of the miles I’d done over the previous my feet still felt fantastic. I still had to focus on my form somewhat while running, but I was confident that I’d gotten this thing figured out. My new running technique felt natural, it was now a matter of training my body and fully breaking the bad habits that I’d developed over the last 20+ years of running.
I knew I had one last thing I needed to do before I could call myself a barefoot/VFF runner and that was to run a race. So, despite the blisters I signed up to run a 25k road race that Sunday, but that’s a subject for the next post.

Adding this link well after publishing this post (also just put on a previous post), but wish I'd have read this back in August when I started this whole adventure:
http://www.livingbarefoot.info/2010/03/the-dangers-of-barefooting-how-to-start-off-on-the-right-foot/